Civil rights activists from Charlottesville end 10 day march in DC

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WASHINGTON, DC -- Civil rights activists poured into the District shortly after 3pm Wednesday after 10 days of trekking on foot for 118 miles, to rally against white supremacy at the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial site, where march organizers called for escalated action.

“We can’t leave. We can’t allow Congress, the White house to pass a White supremacist budget that will destroy our communities day by day and for years to come.”, said one organizer addressing the crowd.

Helping to lead the charge was Charlottesville Vice Mayor, Dr. Wes Bellamy who’s been working to repair divisions in his own city ever since a white nationalist demonstration turned deadly, killing protestor Heather Heyer.

“To march from Charlottesville, Virginia to Washington, DC for equity and not only talking about statues and monuments, but looking at how we can represent all people in an equitable fashion. It was beautiful.”, said Dr. Bellamy.

Devonte Perry was in the crowd and drove down to show his support from Cambridge, Md. He said, “It’s absolutely necessary, it’s very powerful. It’s very encouraging to see that people are willing to take 10 days out of their lives to march.”

Mateo Guerrero had been marching with the group for six days and joined in Culpeper to fight against the end to DACA and systems that he says have kept his people behind.

“We’re not walking here just with ourselves but we are walking here with our ancestors, with everybody who fought before us and who continue to fight with us.”, said Guerrero.Marchers ended their journey at Farragut Square where they’ve set up a training camp to be held through the end of September.

“We’re teaching people about white supremacy, how it operates in society. We’re going to be teaching people about direct action. We’re going to be launching direct actions from here and the entire model is going to be based on trainings.”, explained organizer Nicole Cardi.

The group is expected to stay in town for the Racial justice Rally set for September 30th on the National Mall.